Voyages of Christopher Columbus
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"Discovery of the Americas" and "Discovery of America" redirect here. For other uses, see Discovery of the Americas (disambiguation). Voyages of Christopher Columbus | The Four Voyages of Columbus | Participants | Christopher Columbus and crew | Location | Americas | Date | Between 1492 and 1506 | Result | European exploration of the Americas |
In the early modern period, the voyages of Columbus initiated European exploration and colonization of the American continents, and are thus of great significance in world history. Christopher Columbus was a navigator and an admiral for Castile, a country that later founded modern
After continually lobbying at the los Reyes Catolicos court and two years of negotiations, he finally had success in 1492. Queen Isabella's forces had just conquered the Moorish Emirate of Granada, the last Muslim stronghold of Al-Andalus on the Iberian peninsula, for Castile. Isabella and Ferdinand, received Columbus in the Alcázar (castle) in Córdoba. Legend says Isabella turned Columbus down on the advice of her confessor, and he was leaving town by mule in despair, when Ferdinand intervened.[citation needed] Isabella then sent a royal guard to return him, and Ferdinand later claimed credit for being "the principal cause why those islands and their indigenous residents were first seen by Spaniards".[citation needed]
About half of the financing was to come from private Italian investors, whom Columbus had already lined up. Financially broke after the Granada campaign, the monarchs left it to the royal treasurer to shift funds among various royal accounts on behalf of the enterprise. Columbus was to be made "Admiral of the Seas" and would receive a portion of all profits. The terms were unusually generous, but as his son later wrote, the monarchs did not really expect him to return.
According to Columbus' contract made for the expedition commission by Queen Isabella for Castile, if Columbus claimed any new islands or mainland for the Crown, he would receive many high rewards. In terms of power, he would be given the rank of Admiral of the Ocean Sea and appointed